If the flood of fake notes in Calcutta has left the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) rattled, the spurt in bank-fraud cases has prompted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to focus special attention on the city.

CBI director P.C. Sharma voiced concern over the city emerging as an epicentre for bank fraud that was flourishing in the eastern region. This has prompted the central agency to set up a special bank fraud wing for the region, headquartered in Calcutta.

“We had an anti-corruption wing and an economic offences wing in the city, but the new section will handle bank-specific cases. Each person has been handpicked for the job and is specially trained to tackle such cases,” said Sharma.

The CBI will take a month to ready the new set-up before the 15-member section, led by superintendent of police T.P. Jha, takes on the challenge of checking bank fraud. “We already have some cases in hand,” said Sharma. CBI officials said the cases were extremely sensitive and the total transaction involved is over Rs 5 crore.

At the moment, the fraud section of the Calcutta Police detective department is handling four cases including credit-card fraud, transactions on the basis of forged bank deeds and bank loans obtained on the basis of fake documents. “It is heartening to know that another agency (the CBI) will share the burden of tackling bank frauds,” said a detective department officer.